Carlos Condit: ‘I Don’t Know if I Have Any Business Fighting at This Level Anymore’

Carlos
Condit considered calling it a career following a heartbreaking
loss to Robbie
Lawler at the beginning of the year. Now it appears that he may
be even closer to hanging up his four-ounce gloves for good.

One bout removed from very nearly claiming welterweight gold,
Condit returned to the Octagon at UFC on Fox 21 in Vancouver on
Saturday night with a chance to jump right back into the
welterweight title picture. However, the evening did not go as
planned, as “The Natural Born Killer” was overwhelmed by the
grappling of Demian Maia
and tapped to a rear-naked choke 1:52 into the first round of their
main event clash.

“He’s obviously a super, super high level jiu-jitsu practitioner.
He hit me with a shot from half guard that rattled me and I guess I
didn’t really expect that,” Condit said. “After that he started
moving to mount and I gave up my back because I didn’t want to get
hit. I was kind of rocked from that shot. He puts together his
passing with his striking very well, and that’s why he’s as good as
he is.”

Known for his entertaining style in victory and defeat, Condit
managed to land only one significant strike before succumbing to
Maia. It was a far cry from his previous outing against Lawler — a
bout many thought he won and is one of the frontrunners for “Fight
of the Year” for 2016. The defeat has forced Condit to make an
honest assessment of where he stands in the UFC, although his
perspective probably doesn’t align with the general consensus.

“I don’t know if I have any business fighting at this level any
more,” he said. “I’ve been at this for a really long time. The
pressure of kind of being one of the top guys for almost a
decade…it’s been awesome. I’ve loved being involved in the sport at
the time that I have. I’ve gotten to do what I love for a living
for a long period of time. I don’t know if I belong here anymore.
We’ll see.”

The Jackson-Wink MMA standout has tasted victory just twice in his
last seven outings, but four of those setbacks have come against
men who either were holding the 170-pound title or had held it at
some point. The other, Maia, might be next in line for a
championship opportunity.

Still, the notion of retirement is not a new development for the
New Mexico native, who turned 32 earlier this year. If there is
something that could keep him going, it’s his competitive spirit,
which is still quite strong.

“Honestly it’s definitely been in the back of my mind for a while
now. It’s been a long career and I think there comes a point in
every fighter’s career that they have to question how long they’re
going to continue to do that,” Condit said. “And I’ve been doing
that for a while. It wasn’t my night tonight.

“I don’t know if that’s going to be the swan song for me. Hopefully
not. I would hate to go out on a loss like this. I would have at
least like to have got in there and put on an exciting show like I
usually do. But I don’t know what’s in the cards. I’m leaning
towards probably, possibly being done.”

Condit has been fighting professionally since he was a teenager.
Over the course of 40 documented fights, there have been plenty of
wars that left both Condit and his opponent bloodied and battered.
He has never been knocked out (his lone TKO loss to Tyron
Woodley was the result of a knee injury), which is a credit a
reliable chin. At some point, however, that durability fades, and
Condit, a noted family man, doesn’t seem to want to be around when
that moment arrives.

“Some aspects I definitely am passionate about. I love the
preparation. I trained really hard for this camp,” he said. “I’ve
had a long career with a lot of fights, and I’ve taken a lot of
punishment.